Link Equity Enlightenment
I recently came across an article in the Spring issue of Search Marketing Standard which reminded me of the real-world consequences of poor link equity management.
While in negotiations for SEO services with a prospective client we discovered that an older online catalog system had just been replaced with a new one to allow for a larger number of cataloged products. In the process this business had unknowingly wiped-out their entire link structure and all ranking progress they had made up to that point. Almost within a week they tumbled into SERP oblivion and immediately experienced a drastic slow-down in sales inquiries costing them untold thousands.
They say that knowledge is power and I would certainly agree in this case. A few steps and they could have completely avoided this unfortunate situation.
“It is important to realize that not losing a link is effectively the same as acquiring one.” From pg. 42, Spring 2007, Search Marketing Standard.
Important take-aways:
- It is possible to redirect traffic from an old page to a new page with 301 redirects thus preserving your link equity
- Run a link checker to make sure you don’t have duplicate content, this will divide the equity of that link making it less valuable
- If in doubt you should enlist the help of a qualified SEO/SEM or at least educate yourself about the possible implications of your site change
More on this topic from Lee Odden of TopRank: http://www.toprankblog.com/2007/03/the-cost-of-no-seo-migration-plan/
Technorati Tags: seo, search engine optimization
